by IsaChandra

I have an awful habit of posting recipes just a little too late to be used for the holidays. Oh, well. Have vegan smores next 4th of July, if there is one.

I wanted a graham cracker that was relatively hassle free, most graham cracker recipes call for chilling the dough and that sometimes turns me off from baking. I want graham crackers, NOW. Not in 3 hours. I also wanted them to be relatively healthy for a sweet treat, with a hearty wheaty crunch, so I ultimately went for regular whole wheat flour – pastry flour didn’t give me the crunchy crumbs I was wanting. These aren’t too sweet so if you would like them sweeter and more cinnamony sprinkle with a tablespoon of sugar and 1/2 a teaspoon cinnamon before scoring. To add to the beauty of this recipe, everything gets done with just a large mixing bowl and a fork.

In a large bowl mix together flour, sugar, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. Make a well in the middle and pour in oil, molasses and vanilla. Give the liquid ingredients a quick wisk with a fork and then continue mixing until everything is well combined and crumbly.

Drizzle in the milk and combine. Use your hands to knead the dough a few times until it holds together, add an extra tablespoon of rice milk if needed. You should be able to form a pliable ball of dough.

Line a work surface with parchment. Place the dough on the parchment and work into a rectangle. Flatten a bit with the palms of your hand and sprinkle with flour. Use a rolling pin to roll into a rectangle that is roughly 10 x 14 inches. The dough should be about 1/8 inch thick. If the edges look crumbly, that’s okay.

Cut the edges off so that you have a relatively even 12 x 8 rectangle. Cut the dough into 8 crackers, to do this evenly use a sharp paring knife to slice the dough in half lengthwise and widthwise. Then cut widthwise again on either side of the center widthwise cut. That probably made it sound confusing, read it slowly.

Use a very thin flexible spatula to transfer the crackers to a baking sheet. It helps if you spray the spatula with cooking spray so that it slips on and off easily.

Gather up the scraps of dough and form them into a ball, then roll it out into a 4 by 8 rectangle, or whatever size you can manage. I was able to get 4 more crackers out of the deal, but your mileage may vary. Cut the edges evenly and slice into 4 crackers then transfer to the baking sheet.

Score each cookie with a fork 4 times in 2 columns. You don’t need to poke all the way through. Bake for 12 to 14 minutes. 14 will give you nice crispy crackers, 12 minutes will be better for making ice cream sammiches.

I live in Iowa, pork capital of the world. I snuck my home made vegan Graham crackers onto the snack table at a party where the main draw was meat smoking. They were SO well received: each bite sparked raised eyebrows and toothy smiles. It made me feel warm and fuzzy. These are fun to make and better than any store bought cracker. Incidentally, do you know the history behind the Graham cracker’s namesake? Quite interesting…
Thank you! Cupcakes rock!

August 13, 2007 at 5:30 pm: Dawn

Oh. My. Goodness. These sound SO good. I live gluten free so I’ll have to change up the flour a bit, but the rest of the recipe fits in with my food issues! Thanks!!

August 15, 2007 at 1:32 am: JenasaurusX

Oh! I’ve been looking for a recipe to use my new bag of graham flour on and *poof* here it is! I’m so excited! THANKS!

Wow, according to Wikipedia:
“Around 1829, Graham invented the Graham diet, which consisted mainly of fresh fruits and vegetables, whole wheat and high fiber foods, and excluded meat and spices altogether (see vegetarianism). Very fresh milk, cheese, and eggs were permitted in moderation, and butter was to be used “very sparingly”.[2]
Graham believed that adhering to the diet would prevent people from having impure thoughts and in turn would stop masturbation (thought by Graham to be a catalyst for blindness) among other things. He was a prolific writer and speaker for his cause, which was sternly opposed to “bad habits” of the body and mind. During the 1830s, the diet had a moderate response from the mostly puritanical faction of the American public, so much so that at one point it was strictly imposed on students of Oberlin College by David Campbell (a disciple of Graham’s). During the period in which it was enforced, some rebellious students ate off-campus, and at one point a professor was fired for refusing to stop bringing his own pepper for use with his meals. The diet was eventually renounced by the college in 1841 following a public outcry.
The Graham cracker, invented by its namesake as a staple for the diet, eventually became part of American cuisine.”

So the guy who invented graham crackers basically promoted a diet that was almost veganism ! (minus the eggs..)

Wow, this one is going straight to our “must-try” list: many vegan recipes call for Graham crackers so we will definitely find a good use for them! Any advice on how to make it gluten-free? We were thinking about maybe using buckwheat…

October 4, 2012 at 8:53 pm: Lizzy

Super yummy…even raw ;D…thanks for a super recipe…almost bought from the store today…so happy I didn’t. These are gonna be eaten tonight in a parfait…like a pudding pie in a glass type of deal. Bonus, with the colder weather, this is going to great with hot chocolate :P

Never seen, eaten or smelled Graham crackers before (don’t have them here), but I saw the recipe and decided I loved them.
They’re just out of the oven and they’re divine.
I know I can put my cooking trust on you, Isa, and that you’ll never let me down :-)

I just made one, then a second and finally a third staple of these… all the same afternoon. Actually the idea was just getting the base for a pie crust, but my kids kept eating everything away. Thanks Isa, being vegan would be difficult without you and is a great adventure because of you, your books and your blog!

January 13, 2013 at 11:57 pm: Rebecca Stucki

These are in my oven now! The dough tastes great, so can’t wait for the cracker. I actually used Bob’s Red Mill Graham Flour, which is, as far as I can tell, just whole wheat flour. I also used the technique in the video referenced above to roll out the crackers, only I use a flat pizza stone instead of a baking tray, which I LOVE for baking biscuits, cookies, crackers – anything! It’s so easy.

January 25, 2013 at 1:03 pm: Katy

I’m making these right now! The dough tastes good! Lol

March 26, 2013 at 6:31 pm: GermanVegan

Thank you for another fantastic vegan recipe! I made these just now in preps for Easter. I added enough flour to the dough to make it easily rollable and used very cute lamb cookie cutouts. We then poked holes in the lambs “wool” and two holes for eyes with a fork and wooden dowel. They are as cute as they are yummy and will be gift wrapped in cellophane to give as a very healthy and heart warming bring along for my friend`s toddlers for Easter! Faboulous recipe! Thank you for your effort in making other vegans` lives more pleasurable! Happy Easter to you and your loved ones!

I just made these for a camping trip and they were just divine! I didn’t have molasses, so I subbed maple syrup. Still tasted great.

April 19, 2013 at 11:30 pm: Andrea

Great to be able to make vegan Graham crackers. Be aware that making them with anything other than graham flour will result in crackers but not Graham crackers, it’s a unique flavor. They came out awesome, but somewhat oily. I would reduce the oil next time.

June 9, 2013 at 11:39 pm: Kd M

These look really good! What could I replace the oil with? We eat Dr. Mcdougalls diet of no oil. Thanks, Kd

January 8, 2014 at 10:04 pm: Julie Camacho

Love your simple graham cracker recipe! I just made a double batch, subbing 1/2 cup of whole wheat flour for cocoa powder. Great simple snack for the kiddos!